Knife-wielding Juggalo wants freedom, claims stabbing teen caused 'emotional distress'
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Utah Court of Appeals has denied a request from a prisoner who wanted his attempted murder conviction overturned because he claimed he suffered emotional distress after he stabbed someone.
The unusual request was made by 25-year-old Cody Jesse Augustine, who argued that the act of stabbing a teenage boy in July 2008 triggered an adrenaline rush, along with fears that a friend who joined the assault using a medieval battle-ax could be hurt.
Augustine's attorney, Stephen Howard, said at a hearing last month that the jury in the 2011 trial didn't adequately consider the distress Augustine was under. Utah state prosecutor Karen Klucznik countered that it wouldn't have mattered, saying no jury would have bought the claim.
The court agreed with Klucznik. In a ruling issued Thursday, the court found Augustine's emotional distress was self-created, making the juror instructions irrelevant.
Emotional distress used in a legal defense cannot be self-imposed, according to the decision. It must come from a person being exposed to "extremely unusual and overwhelming stress," the court wrote.
The ruling came back quickly - just three weeks after the hearing. The Appeals Court usually takes at least twice that long to make a decision, Klucznik said. The speed of the decision, she said, "reflects the clarity in the law" regarding emotional distress.
"We are very pleased," Klucznik said. "This continues the pattern that the defendant does not get to cause his own distress."
Howard was not immediately available for comment Thursday.
Augustine was convicted of attempted murder after stabbing Justin Ennis several times with a knife while his friend Scott Tyler Stapley attacked Ennis with the battle-ax, which he called a "toy." Ennis was 17 at the time. He survived and spent five days in a hospital.
Stapley, 26, also was convicted of attempted murder. He and Augustine each were sentenced to three years to life in prison.
Police said the two were Juggalos, a name for fans of the Insane Clown Posse rap group. Juggalos are considered a gang in Utah.
During the Feb. 14 hearing, Howard acknowledged that some of the stress was caused by Augustine's decision to attack the teenager. But he said there were other personal issues that contributed as well, including Augustine's belief that he had contracted a sexually transmitted disease from his girlfriend.
Court documents show Augustine thought Ennis was the original source of the disease he thought he got from his girlfriend. He and Stapley lured Ennis outside by posing as the girl and sending text messages, the documents state.
Howard said proper jury instruction about the emotional distress claim might have led to a conviction on a lesser charge. He also argued a psychologist should have been allowed to tell jurors that Augustine's emotional distress was legitimate.
During the hearing last month, Utah Appeals Court Judges Stephen Roth and J. Frederic Voros Jr. questioned how that testimony would have added anything to the trial.
The unusual request was made by 25-year-old Cody Jesse Augustine, who argued that the act of stabbing a teenage boy in July 2008 triggered an adrenaline rush, along with fears that a friend who joined the assault using a medieval battle-ax could be hurt.
Augustine's attorney, Stephen Howard, said at a hearing last month that the jury in the 2011 trial didn't adequately consider the distress Augustine was under. Utah state prosecutor Karen Klucznik countered that it wouldn't have mattered, saying no jury would have bought the claim.
The court agreed with Klucznik. In a ruling issued Thursday, the court found Augustine's emotional distress was self-created, making the juror instructions irrelevant.
Emotional distress used in a legal defense cannot be self-imposed, according to the decision. It must come from a person being exposed to "extremely unusual and overwhelming stress," the court wrote.
The ruling came back quickly - just three weeks after the hearing. The Appeals Court usually takes at least twice that long to make a decision, Klucznik said. The speed of the decision, she said, "reflects the clarity in the law" regarding emotional distress.
"We are very pleased," Klucznik said. "This continues the pattern that the defendant does not get to cause his own distress."
Howard was not immediately available for comment Thursday.
Augustine was convicted of attempted murder after stabbing Justin Ennis several times with a knife while his friend Scott Tyler Stapley attacked Ennis with the battle-ax, which he called a "toy." Ennis was 17 at the time. He survived and spent five days in a hospital.
Stapley, 26, also was convicted of attempted murder. He and Augustine each were sentenced to three years to life in prison.
Police said the two were Juggalos, a name for fans of the Insane Clown Posse rap group. Juggalos are considered a gang in Utah.
During the Feb. 14 hearing, Howard acknowledged that some of the stress was caused by Augustine's decision to attack the teenager. But he said there were other personal issues that contributed as well, including Augustine's belief that he had contracted a sexually transmitted disease from his girlfriend.
Court documents show Augustine thought Ennis was the original source of the disease he thought he got from his girlfriend. He and Stapley lured Ennis outside by posing as the girl and sending text messages, the documents state.
Howard said proper jury instruction about the emotional distress claim might have led to a conviction on a lesser charge. He also argued a psychologist should have been allowed to tell jurors that Augustine's emotional distress was legitimate.
During the hearing last month, Utah Appeals Court Judges Stephen Roth and J. Frederic Voros Jr. questioned how that testimony would have added anything to the trial.
Seriously? I understand the concept of "mitigating circumstances", but, seriously?
I don't hold the defense attorney culpable - it's his job to present a defense, no matter how crazy. The blame for this stupidity falls squarely on the shoulders of the stabby moron.
what an idiot. good idea, lawyer, lol.
Maybe they left the bottom end of 3 years because they've learned they can't stand him......Â
HAHAHA Emotional Distress. The judge should be like "Come up here boy" SMACK!!! "Now go sit down" lolÂ
What is it with defense attorneys? And this felon is a real slice of brainless idiocy.Â
3 years for attempted murder??? You have to be kidding!!! And this knot-head whats charges dropped because it caused him emotional distress to try and kill someone??? What about his victim???  Only in Liberal-land....
His haircut is like an indicator of how much of his skull his brain takes up.
There are times when I think drowning at birth would have been warranted. Some people are just too clueless to live. Judging from his latest ploy, I'd say that the haircut isn't the only stupid thing in this story. Â Seriously. 23?Â
" Juggalos are considered a gang in Utah." Ironically, they're considered "idiots" everywhere else, and THIS one just so happens to look like Billy Bob Thornton in "Slingblade"..........."I reckon I should get me one of them thar lawyer fellers, hmmmmmm, cause I don't feel right about hacking on that little feller with a knife, mmmhmmm. Wasting money paid fer by them thar taxpayin folk is o.k. tho......mmmmhmmm. I'll jest play like I'm a dumb feller, and ONE of them thar lawyer fellers will help me get out of here...mmmmmhmmmm. When um aout, I can kill the feller that needed killin, and go git me some of dem dar french fried taters....Mmmmmm."
3 years to life? Talk about a vague sentence!
Beyond stupid.
Sorry, bud, but anger towards a guy that might have been the source of an STD you may have gotten from your girlfriend is not a good enough excuse to nearly stab the guy to death. Â Emotional distress my arse.
@komonews lol utah
Juggalos are idiots anyways. Â Paramount to a cult worshipping crappy music.
Jail that idiot attorney!!!
Although I enjoy mocking Juggalos as much as the next guy (I know, I know, fish in a barrel, but how can you not), what relevance does the fact that these two jackhandles also happen to hold to that particular flavor of stupid have to the case? The attack was motivated by personal reasons, not by some message they received from the "music." The headline might as well have read "Knife wielding broccoli lovers" for all the relevance it holds.
@Mikeftm Hahahaha
Hahahaha! What a freaking idiot.
Good try, chucklehead! I imagine the guy you stabbed was pretty distressed too!